


paint your colors (on me) for all the world to see

by OceanMyth



Series: Ocean's ATLA Drabbles, Oneshots, and Ficlets [25]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, Fluff, gals-- is it gay to do your "best-friend"s makeup?, i mean technically Azula's there too but, it's not really about her, unknowing mutual pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:28:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28649817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanMyth/pseuds/OceanMyth
Summary: Ty Lee does Mai's face-paint for their Kyoshi Warrior disguise. Things have changed since they were both little girls, sneaking off to do makeup in the school bathrooms.
Relationships: Mai/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: Ocean's ATLA Drabbles, Oneshots, and Ficlets [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2113209
Comments: 13
Kudos: 42





	paint your colors (on me) for all the world to see

**Author's Note:**

> Written for @rllyaangrlly on tumblr for Mailee Week.

Ty Lee had done Mai’s makeup before this—she had pressed close to Mai’s face in the Academy bathrooms, mingled breath steaming up the ornate mirror in front of them. She had just cut her hair for the first time, in a reckless attempt to stand out from her sisters, and the choppy bangs had fluttered against Mai’s cheek on every exhale.

  
  
But there’s something different about it this time. Something different about the missing mirror and the smoky light of the low quality candles, the lack of any eyes on them—even their own—that makes this different. Something different about the feeling of Ty Lee’s hands in her hair, gripping the back of Mai’s head tight, holding her in place— but maybe that’s only because of how the calluses Ty Lee had gained from her time at the circus catch against Mai’s hair.

Maybe it's because they’re older now, not just a pair of awkward ten year olds, trying out makeup stolen from their mothers. Maybe it’s because Ty Lee is perched easily on Mai’s lap with her brush in hand as she dabs the soft white powder across Mai’s cheeks, not standing awkwardly over her while they try to avoid touching at all. Or maybe it’s the strange tension in the tent that had crept in slowly while Azula had been with them, flooding in like a tidal wave as she’d left.

Mai’s breath is shaky in her lungs, though she has control of it by the time she exhales. Her whole body feels warm and flushed. Ty Lee is biting her lip in concentration. She’d done that too, the first time she’d asked to do Mai’s makeup, terrified of messing up for no reason at all. As if Mai would be capable of being mad at her if she made a mistake. 

She’s always had her emotions painted across her face— or at least she used to have them painted across her face. Something had changed, while she was at the circus.

After she’d left Mai behind.

The look in her eyes is only surface-deep now and no matter how Mai tries, she can’t see past it. It’s frightening to think that the two of them could have changed so much since they last saw each other, especially since Mai isn’t sure she’s changed at all. 

And even if she had, Ty Lee can probably see past whatever facade she’d put up in the years since she’s seen her friend last. If she ever did look, Mai knows she’d smile and wink and tell Mai her aura is a dead giveaway, and proceed to spell out all of the things Mai wants to say but can’t. The thought frightens her for a moment, but then she’s drawn back in by the pucker in Ty Lee’s brow— and if she can’t trust Ty Lee, can she trust anyone?

Mai wants to reach out and smooth away the wrinkle.

She does not.

Ty Lee taps the excess powder off the brush, and hops down from Mai’s lap. It’s strange how she feels both lighter and heavier for the absence, and stranger still how the heavier wins out, and she has to resist the urge to reach out and pull Ty Lee back to her. Mai taps her nails against the cushion she’s sitting on, and wishes she was tapping them against something solid. It’s not as soothing without the click-tapping that normally accompanies it.

And then Ty Lee is back in her lap, one hand secured around a pot of red liquid. It smells like fruit left to ripen in the sun. Sweet and lazy, like a raspberry pressed to Mai’s lips while she and Ty Lee waited for Azula to come back at one of their girlhood picnics.

  
  
Ty Lee frowns down at the pot of paint, then looks up at Mai.  
  


“Oh _drat_! Hang on— I’m going to need both my hands for this part,” she says, almost to herself, as she sets the pot down in the space between them, wedged between their thighs. Mai can feel the chill through her clothes, and that probably says more about how warm she is than how cold the jar is. Ty Lee takes one of Mai’s hands between hers, avoiding poking herself with the black nails with entirely too much ease for someone who hasn’t had to do it in years.

Her fingers are soft.

Ty Lee hooks Mai’s hand around her body, and then looks back up into Mai’s eyes. Her big dark gray-brown eyes are unusually serious. The red paint around her eyes makes her eyelashes appear long and dark. She blows her bangs out of her face, and smiles at Mai.

“Hold me steady, okay?”

Mai swallows.

“Of course,” she says, like there was ever any other answer. 

Mai lifts her other hand up from her— their laps, and sets it gingerly on Ty Lee’s waist. Ty Lee shifts forwards then, she can feel it in the rippling muscles under Ty Lee’s Kyoshi armor before she does, but _oh she’s much closer now_ — and the revelation that her friend’s time in the circus has given her the wiry strength that had only been hinted at in their adolescence slips away. Mai’s hand creeps higher on Ty Lee’s back to better support her. Ty Lee fishes the pot from their laps, and leans in again.

“Close your eyes?” she says, and is the peppiness of her voice hiding a hitch in her breathing, or is Mai just hearing things?

Mai’s eyes close, almost as soon as the words pass Ty Lee’s lips. The press of the brush against the skin of her eyelid is much colder than she’d expected, but then Ty Lee hadn’t used anything there when they were younger. It feels thicker than she’d expected, each brushstroke putting down a layer of paint. 

The brush sweeps along the curves of her eyes and brow, and it’s smooth and soft, each stroke delicate yet precise—sometimes it feels like Ty Lee’s chi-blocking skills are present in everything she does. Ty Lee’s fingers are gentle on the back of Mai’s head, as she guides Mai to lean one way or another.

Mai can imagine that she can hear Ty Lee’s concentration in the quietness of the tent. Soft breaths tingle across her cheeks, and then Ty Lee is blowing a gentle stream of air across the paint to help it dry. It tickles, just a little.

“Open your eyes!”

  
  
Mai does, and she barely notices the way Ty Lee’s nostrils flare with a hasty inhale— she’s too busy trying to lean back and away. If she’d thought they were close before that has nothing on how close Ty Lee’s lips and face and wide-warm-gray-eyes seem now.

“Wow Mai! You look fantastic,” Ty Lee chirps, and then her hand is underneath Mai’s chin, fingers fanning out to curl up the side of Mai’s face. “Just one thing left.”

She leans in, and her brow furrows again— “Purse your lips for me— just a little?” she asks, and Mai does, hiding a smile at her enthusiasm. “Perfect!”

Ty Lee rises up onto her knees and tilts Mai’s head back, fingers sliding against her throat. Mai can barely see Ty Lee’s face from under her eyelashes, but there’s a faint pinkness to the white paint that wasn’t there before. The brush comes forward, and hesitantly brushes across the contours of Mai’s lips. It pulls across the top lip, feathering a light layer of silky paint in its wake. Then comes the bottom lip, and Mai swallows— her face moves just a little. The brush skips over her skin.

Ty Lee sucks in a breath quietly.

“Oops,” she says, and one of her thumbs slides just below Mai’s bottom lip, the nail lightly dragging against her skin. Ty Lee pulls it away, and there’s a garish smear of red caught there. Mai’s lips are tingling, like her cheeks had before. Ty Lee’s hands are lingering on her face, but the brush hasn’t moved at all.

  
  
Mai rubs her lips together, like Ty Lee had told her to do in front of that damn mirror, all those years ago. 

The paint tastes the same way it smells.

When she focuses back on Ty Lee, Ty Lee is looking helplessly at her lips, and she’s close enough that Mai can see the candles dancing in her pretty warm gray-brown eyes— 

And then Ty Lee is kissing her, or maybe she is kissing Ty Lee, and then silly things like semantics are gone and the only feelings left in the world are Ty Lee’s lips on hers and Ty Lee’s hand in her hair. Everything tastes sweet and warm, and Mai is fairly sure there will be red paint everywhere but she can’t bring herself to care.

Faintly she hears the clatter of the brush as it falls— somewhere— but then Ty Lee’s other hand is cupped around the back of her neck, and Mai’s hands have found their way back around Ty Lee’s waist. There isn’t any hesitation this time, Mai pulls her closer, and Ty Lee’s legs have wrapped around _her_ waist now—

“You must be _joking—_ I was gone for less than an hour!” There is nothing more capable of shattering the mood than the sound of Azula’s voice. Suddenly Ty Lee is _not_ in Mai’s lap anymore, and Mai can’t look at her.

Her lips are still tingling, just a little.

Azula clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “Oh relax— I’ve been watching the two of you pine over each other for years, if anything this is a relief. Don’t get all _sappy_ in front of me, and we’ll be fine.”

  
  
When Mai meets Ty Lee’s eyes, she knows that the other girl can see her blush through the paint— and Mai was half right. The paint isn’t everywhere, but the red around her lips has certainly smudged. She wonders if Ty Lee would be willing to do her makeup again sometime— hopefully in a place where Azula is less likely to interrupt.

**Author's Note:**

> haha i have no idea where the emotions for this came from.
> 
> tell me what you thought in the comments, or you can come yell at me on tumblr @justoceanmyth


End file.
